Railers fall to Emporia in district opener

The Newton High School football team nearly had a dramatic comeback against Emporia Friday in Class 5A Friday at Fischer Field, falling 48-27. Newton got within seven in the fourth quarter, but gave up two unanswered scores. “We got right back in it, then we had things go against us,” Newton coach Brent Glann said. “Some of it was our own making. ... Some things that were out of our control took some things away from us. Our guys gave it everything they had.” Emporia’s offense was led by Dylan Jackson with 25 carries for 261 yards and five touchdowns. Jackson rushed for 210 yards and four touchdowns in the second half. Quarterback Braxton Marstall hit nine of 12 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown. Jerel Morrow had had 102 yards receiving. J.L. Savage caught a pass for a touchdown and also rushed for a score. “Jackson is a special player,” Glann said. “They’ve got several special players. You have to pick your poison with them. We just had trouble stopping them. They utilize them extremely well. They’ve got guys who beat you deep. They’ve got guys who can beat you over the middle. After losing last week, I knew they would come out with a lot of focus. This is the most focus they’ve played with of all the games we’ve seen them.” Newton was led by Coleman Kingsley, who rushed for 190 yards on 35 carries with a touchdown. Kingsley also passed for 110 yards, hitting 12 of 17 passes with an interception. Derrick Garnica rushed for 95 yards and three scores. Jack Kingsley had 10 receptions for 72 yards. A blocked punt, the first the Railers have given up this season, set up an Emporia score on a 14-yard Savage run. The Railers came back with a 10-play, 80-yard drive capped by an eight-yard Garnica run. Newton recovered an on-side kick, but failed to move the ball. Marstall then hit a 55-yard pass to Savage. “You can’t have a blocked punt on the first series,” Glann said. “That put us behind the eight ball early. Then we score and recover the on-side kick, but we can’t move the ball. We had chances, but we couldn’t make plays when we had to. They did.” Emporia then marched the ball 91 yards on eight plays, scoring on a 57-yard Jackson run. The Newton defense finally made a stop with 3:23 remaining in the first half when Malcolm Engström knocked down a pass with 3:23 remaining, but the Railers turned the ball over two plays later. Newton got the ball to the Emporia 38 with 5.2 seconds remaining, where a Braxton Stahl 52-yard field goal fell just short. Emporia held a 234-178 advantage in total offense in the first half. Emporia marched the ball 66 yards in seven plays to open the third quarter, scoring on a one-yard Jackson run. Newton came back with a long drive of its own, scoring on a 38-yard Garnica run. The Railers rolled the dice with an on-side kick, which Emporia recovered at midfield. It took Emporia just four plays to score, as a 38-yard pass from Marstall to Savage set up a two-yard Jackson run. The Railers again responded quickly, scoring on a two-yard Coleman Kingsley run, set up by a 35-yard run earlier in the drive. An Emporia turnover set up a one-yard Garnica touchdown run. Newton was hit with a 15-yard chop block on the extra-point attempt, turning it into a 35-yard attempt, which Stahl missed. A Newton stop was wiped out when Jerel Morrow was stopped two yards short of a first down on a fourth-down pass from Marstall. Morrow fumbled the ball past the first down marker out of bounds, allowing Emporia to keep the ball. Jackson scored on a 31-yard run on the drive. Newton had two penalties and a sack stop a drive midway in the fourth quarter. Jackson scored on a 19-yard run with 6:15 remaining to put the game away. Newton got to the Emporia 20 before giving the ball back on downs with 3:19 remaining. Newton plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Valley Center, which fell to Andover 21-8. “Valley Center is a vastly improved team,” Glann said. “They are playing awfully well on defense. They are a lot better.”Emporia 14 7 13 14 —48 Newton 7 0 20 0 —27 Scoring 1q. E Savage 14-yd. run (Torres kick) 8:38 1q. N Garnica 8-yd. run (Stahl kick) 5:18 1q. E Savage 55-yd. pass from Marstall (Torres kick) 2:37 2q. E Jackson 57-yd. run (Torres kick) 8:40 3q. E Jackson 1-yd. run (kick failed) 9:11 3q. N Garnica 38-yd. run (Sthal kick) 7:52 3q. E Jackson 2-yd. run (Torres kick) 6:32 3q. N C.Kingsley 2-yd. run (Stahl kick) 4:15 3q. N Garnica 1-yd. run (kick failed) 2:50 4q. E Jackson 31-yd. run (Torres kick) 11:31 4q. E Jackson 19-yd. run (Torres kick) 6:15 Team stats Emp. New. First downs 21 16 Rushing-yards 51-354 51-282 Passing yards 165 110 Comp-att-int 9-12-0 12-17-1 Punts-avg. 1-42.0 5-32.6 Fumbles-lost4-1 2-0 Penalties-yards 0-0 4-45 Individual stats RUSHING — Emporia: Jackson 25-261, Marstall 15-69, Swanson 5-16, Savage 2-14, Morrow 1-4, Highley 2-(-4), Kuhn 1-(-6). Newton: C.Kingsley 35-190, Garnica 15-98, J.Kingsley 1-(-6). PASSING — Emporia: Marstall 9-12-0, 165 yards. Newton: C.Kingsley 12-17-0, 110 yards. RECEIVING — Emporia: Morrow 7-102, Savage 2-63. Newton: J.Kingsley 10-72, Johnson 2-38. Missed field goals — New.: Stahl 52 (short).